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Before I start I would like to say thank you to any who take the time to answer.

I am a 23, soon to be 24, year old white/english South African. I have an array of strange occurrences in my body that have trickled in, wrecked havoc, then left again; some never to be seen again.

I was 20 turning 21 when I first noticed two odd symptoms: my erection seemed to be weaker than ever and maintaining one was difficult and I had stopped getting skeletal muscle pump when I went to gym to lift weights. I had blood tests and my doctor found slightly elevated testosterone levels in my body, but that was it. He said that the elevated testosterone wasn't significant enough to really be cause for concern. My erection has improved, I have no problem ejaculating or having an orgasm.

On Christmas eve 2011 I was admitted to hospital with severe stomach cramps that originated in my lower intestine and after a few hours shifted to my appendix area where it became unbearable. I was sick and vomited up bile. Blood works showed I had an abnormally high white blood cell count. I spent the night over in hospital, was checked by the surgeon in the morning and was discharged hours later. These "attacks" would come about every 2 months or so, the day to week after I was in incredible pain-sometimes to the extent where I was unable to walk. I went to see a specialist who concluded, by hitting my leg with a stick, that I had IBS. My last "attack" was on new years eve of 2012, I haven't had one since(I have cut lactose, gluten, wheat and numerous other substances out of my diet).

During 2013 I was symptom free, to an extent(I still did not get muscle pump like I used to[although I had altered my training considerably]and my erections were 90 percent back to full strength). Midway through the year, after an extremely strenuous week of training, I started to get twitching muscles. That weekend I became violently ill with a bacterial infection, at the same time my muscle begun to twitch excessively, and continued to do so even though I was resting. My doctor gave me a magnesium pill that seemed to stop the twitching. Taking a multivitamin supplement has virtually stopped all my muscle twitching. Only from searching the internet for muscle twitching did I come to the conclusion I could have Multiple Sclerosis. Towards the end of the year I started to get recurring muscle spasms in my tongue, face muscles and one particular side of my neck. The most concerning thing for me, however, was that I started to notice my foot dragging on occasions too.

This year I have begun to notice that whenever I stand up quickly, without exception, I get a head rush and my vision dissipates. Another symptom is that I have pretty awful short term memory, often wondering round my house forgetting why I was in a room in the first place. I have lost some muscle mass, although this could be attributed to change in diet and training. I have noticed some muscle weakness, but again this could be attributed to diet and exercise. The most concerning thing to date is recently, after exercise, sometimes I get what seems like blurred vision in one eye- I can only describe it as looking through melted clingwrap.

Sorry for the long essay type thread. I am worried about the possibility of having MS, however, I've in a way made peace with all the symptoms and anymore that may come.

your dietary changes will likely have helped curb ongoing nutrient loss, but they can't replace chronically depleted nutrients or make the remainder of your diet more nutrient dense. you may need therapeutic replacement.

the bloodwork can be problematic b/c mainstream medicine doesn't have the best tools to work with when it comes to assessment. but we've spent a lot of time on bloodwork interpretation issues here and can help you get meaningful info from any results that you can get your hands on.

for infection and ED I would suggest you look at testing for serum zinc. for infection on its own, serum selenium. for muscle twitching, you could look into testing serum magnesium. there are other important nutrients to consider but those could be a useful first step.

Magnesium status and exercise performance in athletes(horrible link, just search for the paper in google scholar)"Surveys of athletes reveal that frequently, these individuals fail to consume a diet that contains adequate amounts of minerals, including magnesium. Individuals engaged in intense exercise should have a magnesium requirement 10 - 20% higher than the average sedentary person, because of increased losses through sweat and urine. Magnesium deficit is associated with muscle weakness, cramps, and structural damage of muscle fibers and organelles"

Zinc, iron, and magnesium status in athletes--influence on the regulation of exercise-induced stress and immune functionhttp://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/9644092"Many investigations have reported decreased concentrations of trace elements in blood and tissues after training and competition. ... This paper reviews the data on zinc, iron, and magnesium status in athletes and summarizes the consequences of deficiencies in these trace elements regarding exercise tolerance and immune function. These elements were chosen since there is evidence they are related to exercise-induced stress and immune function."

No one has ever mentioned it to me, but I have had my suspicions. My symptoms have nearly vanished with a complete halt in exercise. The muscle twitching, worse with stress, left when dosed with magnesium and reappeared once I stopped taking. I have also noticed that after drinking electrolyte rich sports drinks my bodies symptoms are reduced.

sounds like you're on the right track. what kind of mag did you take to address the muscle twitching?

some lab work (if properly interpreted) could confirm the tale .. basically results will likely come back low to mid normal, but you'll want to be in the high normal end of the range for the most part.

ms patients usually have a range of nutrition problems, so I suspect that and the associated symptoms could be about all you have in common with ms patients at this stage. couldn't hurt to make sure you have all those ruled out.

best case scenario, you correct all your nutritional issues, and there's nothing left to worry about. worst case scenario, you deal with the nutrition issues, some stuff clears up but not all, and you take that to the doc for further testing knowing that nutrition deficits aren't clouding the picture symptom-wise.

another study:

Zinc as a Modulator of Chronic, Inflammatory Intestinal Disorders with Focus on Celiac Disease, Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome and Crohn’s Diseasehttp://www.omicsonline.org/2155-9600/pd ... &aid=10000These findings suggest that disruption of the immune response may be a result of alterations in Zn status of various tissues [9], further relating Zn to specific chronic disorders marked by intestinal inflammation. New findings show that the anti-inflammatory functions of Zn may ameliorate celiac disease (CCD) symptoms [10], as well as other chronic disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and Crohn’s disease (CD)...

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